The disclosed subject matter relates to light source and signal collection device and methods for using the same.
Conventional optical fiber bundles are composed of multiple small core fibers that are bunched together into a single cable. Multiple light sources, such as a light emitting diodes (LEDs), are also used with these optical fiber bundles, where each light source is aligned with one of the small core fibers. In addition, a separate fiber within the optical fiber bundle is typically used to collect fluorescence emission for analysis.
Many approaches attempt to solve this issue of coupling each light source to a fiber by using dichroic mirrors to couple multiple LEDs to a single fiber. However, these mirrors and other optical components needed to create these optical structures are expensive, require sufficiently separated wavelengths, and are not scalable. In addition to these optical components, note that the optical fiber bundles themselves are also expensive. For example, a typical optical fiber bundle for use in these optical structures can cost in the range of $1,000 through $3,000 depending on the number of fibers needed. It should also be noted that this is not practical for wavelength scaling as the outer diameter of the fiber bundle becomes significantly large. Further, each individual fiber has a small diameter, which reduces the amount of light that can be coupled and the amount of emission that can be collected.
Accordingly, devices and methods are provided that overcome these and other deficiencies of the prior art.